WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION ACT— MEDICAL EXAMINATIONS.

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if, under Clause 11 of the First Schedule of the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1897, a workman is entitled to submit himself for examination by the qualified medical practitioner appointed for the district in which he resides by the Secretary of State, when the medical practitioner appointed by his employer has given a certificate upon his condition with which he is not satisfied, although the case has not been before a committee, arbitrator or judge, in consequence of the employer and the workman having previously agreed to pay and receive a fixed weekly sum as compensation.

The provisions of paragraph 11 of the First Schedule to the Workmen's Compensation Act apply to any workman "receiving weekly payments under the Act." Whether any particular case—of agreement is "under the Act" is a question which can only be decided authoritatively on the facts of the case by a court of law, and I am unable to express an opinion on it in general terms.